FOREST PRESERVATION AND NATIONAL PROSPERITY. 9 



whether he wills or not, to reforest them if denuded, In 1882 a new 

 law, perhaps a little less stringent, but more practical, was enacted. 

 According to this law, which is still in force, the Government has the 

 right to serve an injunction on any owner of mountains who has not 

 reforested them. The owner has the right to refuse, and in that case 

 the Government expends a fair sum of money and plants the trees 

 for the good of the community. The results have been very happy. 

 In every part where these rules have been applied it is noted that the 

 temperature is more equal, that the water supplies from springs have 

 been more regular, and the torrents less destructive. 



* * * In the same manner another great mischief was being 

 done along the coast of the ocean. For years and for centuries the 

 sand encroached upon the land. Part of it was becoming a desert, 

 and as the years went on the sand invaded the country more and 

 more; it was like a death powder covering the land. Exactly a 

 century ago we thought a stop should be put to it, and we thought 

 of that great friend of man, the forest, and the forest did not fail us. 

 Trees now cover all that sand countiy, and it has become one of the 

 most useful in France. And now villages and towns have grown 

 where before there was nothing. 



AUBREY WHITE, 



Commissioner of Crown Lands, Province of Ontario, Canada. 



So far as the Province of Ontario is concerned, we derive our principal 

 revenues from the sales of pine timber, there being no state tax. We do 

 not pay one five-cent piece for state purposes. Our great revenue comes 

 from two sources; one, a grant by the federal government, and 

 the other, the proceeds of the sale of our timber. This last year 

 Ave derived from timber alone $2,800,000. When we want to dispose 

 of our timber we survey it into blocks, or " berths," as we call them, 

 and invite people to come and bid for them. We sold 1 square mile 

 at our last sale and got $36,500 for it. So we have a very valuable 

 asset and are taking care of it — we are not giving it away. 



FOUESTBY A NATIONAL NEED. 



Hon. JAMES WILSON, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



Forestry is not a local question; it is as wide as American juris- 

 diction. It is not a class question; it affects everybody. It is noi 

 limited by latitude or longitude, by State lines or thermal lines, by 

 rivers or mountain ranges, by seas or lakes. Steel has taken the 

 place of wood for fencing to a large extent. It has taken the place 

 of wood for ships to some extent. It is being introduced in house 

 building, and is replacing wood extensively in the making of machin- 



30483— No. 35—05 m 2 



